


Forgotten

by Stitch54



Category: Disney Cartoons (Classic), Epic Mickey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Mickey Mouse's 60th Birthday
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-04-03 23:13:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14006937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stitch54/pseuds/Stitch54
Summary: “Magic powers are special, You must find your own. You stole someone else’s, Now you must atone. When people look upon you, They won’t know who you are. You must seek out your own magic, You’ll find it isn’t far”What if the magic spell placed on Mickey during his 60th Birthday Celebration wasn't as easily reversible as it had been in the show?





	1. Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> The beginnings of an idea that I've had floating around since I first landed upon the special last year. What if the sorcerer that cast the spell either intended the spell to be harder to break than what was in the special, or if he had evil intentions, or if as the hat wasn't even his that the spell didn't work as he'd thought.

“Magic powers are special,  
You must find your own.  
You stole someone else’s,  
Now you must atone.  
When people look upon you,  
They won’t know who you are.  
You must seek out your own magic,  
You’ll find it isn’t far”

**2008**

“Hello”, a voice echoed around the empty theatre as a shadow cautiously peered around the corner. “Is anybody here?”

A black rabbit with a white face stepped carefully into the stalls, his eyes examining every inch of the vast space as his nose crinkled at the overwhelming smell of damp. Rubbing his arms to keep them warm, he tried to focus on any details he could spy in the darkness. The only item of clothing this rabbit wore was a pair of electric blue shorts and a grey scarf that had been wrapped lovingly around his neck by somebody else.

Water was dripping through a large hole in the ceiling that didn’t provide much light. Although this was California, rain had been a frequent occurrence around LA since 1988. Even the weather was in mourning it would seem. As the rabbit walked down the aisle, a pigeon was disturbed from its hiding place in the row of seats on his right, and as it took flight dust and feathers filled the air. The rabbit did his best to swat away the dirt in the air, but inevitably started to cough.

“Try not to inhale too much”, another voice called into the room, making the rabbit jump. This new voice - falsetto and emotionless - was familiar to the rabbit and hope welled in his chest. “All sorts of creatures live in here”, the voice continued. Following what once could have been a distinctive chuckle, it added: “Don’t like to think too much about what’s been where and what it has left behind”.

Still coughing slightly, the rabbit did his best to compose himself. “Ah, hello”, he replied to the voice nervously, looking around for the hidden person. For all he knew, he could be talking to a ghost. Stranger things had happened in the last twenty years. “I was told that you might be able to help me?”

“Ha!” the voice answered sarcastically, “I highly doubt it. If you can’t tell already from my current living situation, nobody’s wanted or needed me in a very long time”.

The rabbit bit his bottom lip. There was a hint of sadness in the ghost’s voice that he knew all too well. “Well, I need your help now”, the rabbit tried to convince him, yet he doubted his conviction considering how shaky his own voice sounded, “And I think I could help you”.

“Pft!” the voice had moved, causing the rabbit to jump again and turn to face the darkened stage. “Just who do you think you are?”

The rabbit took a deep breath. He’d rather hoped the owner of the disembodied voice he’d been taking to would’ve been one of the few people left in the world who would recognise him instantly. But maybe even he had forgotten? Still, the rabbit hoped that the ghost just hadn’t gotten a good enough look at him. The ghost wouldn’t have been able to recognise him by his voice as nobody had ever really heard him speak up until 1990. Rolling his shoulders, he stood as tall as possible, his large ears standing to attention. “I’m Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and I’m looking for Mickey Mouse”.

A large thud echoed around the room, like someone had fallen over or fallen off something. Silence followed, and Oswald strained his eyes and ears for any sign of the ghost in the darkness. His heart stopped in his chest as he heard something scrabbling back to its feet on the stage. The sound of fingers snapping hit his ears first, followed quickly by a loud clunk as a spotlight suddenly shone down on him. Having had his vision reduced even further, Oswald relied on his ears to try and locate this ghost. He could hear something moving on the stage, coming closer to him slowly.

“O- … Oswald?” the ghost stuttered out in a barely audible squeak, “You’re… you’re back? How?”

Oswald let out a small breath he didn’t realise he’d held until this point. He swallowed back his emotions. The ghost needed the facts right now, emotions could come later. “Disney needed a mascot. One that Walt would approve of. Donald and Goofy point blank refused, and Minnie is too heartbroken”, Oswald paused here for a moment to take a breath and keep his emotions at bay, “So, they bought me back from Universal. Wasn’t like they needed me or anything”.

“When?”

“1990”, Oswald heard the ghost recoil. “Yen Sid and I have been looking for ya ever since”.

“Why?” the ghost snapped back in anger, “It’s clear the world has forgotten me. You’ve gotten back what I essentially took from you. It’s not like anybody needs me anymore, so why?”

Oswald didn’t respond straight away. One making sure that the ghost had finished, and two he might’ve said something he may have regretted later. Looking up and out into the darkness, he hoped that he was looking at the person he’d come to find. “Because you’re my brother Mickey”.

He heard fingers snap again, the spotlight died, and Oswald found himself in darkness once again. Straining to get anything from the darkness, Oswald found himself inching forward slightly. “You shouldn’t have come looking for me Oswald”, Mickey said solemnly, his voice suddenly arriving from close to Oswald’s left, “You can’t help me”.

“Yen Sid seems to think I can”, Oswald replied, turning to face where he heard Mickey’s voice come from, “And I believe him”.

“No”, Mickey dismissed, “As soon as you look at me… You’ll kick yourself for even thinking that I was Mickey Mouse”.

“The forgotten can’t forget”, Oswald said wisely, “Trust me. I was forgotten a lot longer than you have been”.

“But what if you do forget me? Then what?”

“Dunno”, Oswald answered honestly, “But it’s worth a shot, don’t ya think?”

He heard Mickey draw a large breath. Oswald didn’t flinch when he felt a hand grasp his and squeeze slightly. With his free hand, Oswald reached around and placed it on top of Mickey’s in what he hoped would be taken reassuringly. Mickey sighed out the large breath and snapped his fingers again.

This time, the whole room was bathed in light. Oswald blinked his eyes rapidly to adjust and looked straight ahead. Standing in front of him was a scrawny dishevelled black mouse with a peach face, his shoulders hunched over in preparation of some sort of reaction from Oswald. Two large distinctive round black ears sat atop his head, and even though they had greyed and frayed, he wore his ever-present white gloves.

Mickey closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight of someone else forgetting him. However, this meant he did not see the mischievous smile creep its way onto Oswald’s face. “Well, if we’re going to convince the world you are Mickey Mouse, you’ll need to take a shower”, Oswald teased, “Jeez, do you stink!”

Mickey opened his eyes to see Oswald chuckling to himself. Relief washed over the mouse, and he found himself starting to giggle, tears of joy unmistakably forming in the corner of his eye. With his hand still clasped by Oswald, Mickey found himself drawn into an embrace from the chuckling rabbit. “C’mon Mick”, Oswald said as he offered Mickey his scarf to wipe his tears on, “Let’s get ya home. This curse doesn’t stand a chance!”


	2. Not so Magical Kingdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oswald drives Mickey "home". Things have changed in 20 years, and not for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fixed in previous chapter: I forgot to specify but this story is set in 2008.
> 
> So I'm also using my own personal head cannon here.
> 
> There is our world, the Real World, and a Cartoon World (there are also several Wastelands (i.e. Epic Mickey), all for different studios, but that isn't important at the moment). All Toons from every studio live in the Cartoon World, but they live in different places. It is about the same size as our World, and looks basically the same, but there are some differences e.g. some cities exist where others don't, there are extra islands, some places are more inhabited than others ect.
> 
> 'Popular' cartoons are able to create portals to the Cartoon World wherever they like (the portals exist in pretty much the same place in each world). These tend to be at studios where the Toons are needed most. However, as the number of Disney cartoons increased, it was becoming increasingly obvious that they needed another location for these particular Toons to enter the real world. So Disneyland was a great place to do this and it was built with several portals all dotted in different backstage areas to allow the characters to come and go as they please
> 
> Like in Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, there is a Toontown, but not exactly as it is in Rodger. Yes, there was a Toontown as shown in Rodger where all the different Toons of different studios lived. But this was for the early days because all the studios were on top of one another in LA. When the number of Toons became too much and Disney Toons started exiting through Warner Brothers portals and the like, the studios started insisting that the Toons start separating (but Disney moved before anyone else). So basically, most of the Disney Toons live in the Cartoon equivalent of where Anaheim is, yet they still have a portal in Burbank.
> 
> If anyone wants any further clarification, please feel free to message me on here or on my Tumblr of the same name as on here.
> 
> I'd like to recognise the inspiration behind my head cannon to KicksterAsh's ToonZ universe on DeviantArt and penwarrior11's Happiest Place Trilogy.

Oswald pulled his tiny European car up to the front gate of Disneyland. Mickey stirred slightly as the rabbit pulled up the handbrake. The mouse had slept for most of the journey, having not wanted to discuss anything just yet – which Oswald 100% understood. He remembered back to when he and Ortensia found themselves no longer in Wasteland. Both of them had been so overwhelmed by the fact that they were back, neither of them really spoke to anyone and struggled to absorb even the basic of information for days.

Opening the driver’s door, Oswald stepped out to open the gate. Although it was only 4pm, the park was pretty much dead already. Since Mickey disappeared, so had the magic of Disneyland. They had a skeleton staff compared to what it used to be, with most of the characters taking on roles as well. A lot of the rides were no longer operating as they used to, and the only guests who came to the park were dedicated tourists or people seeking a sense of nostalgia.

The gate began to open with a creek, and at the sound of this a cast member on the guest gates came over to help. “Thanks”, Oswald smiled at them.

“No problem, sir”, they answered with a puff of breath as they pulled the gate back, “Been anywhere nice today?”

“I went and picked up a friend”, the rabbit replied nodding his head over towards the still sleeping mouse in his car.

The cast member looked over curiously, but the smile on their face soon dropped. “Please sir”, they started, sounding slightly like a moaning child, “Not another lookalike. You know what it does to everyone”.

“I know”, Oswald sighed, guilt rising about previous events, “But he’s different. I promise, this will be the last time!”

The cast member rolled their eyes. Oswald knew that they didn’t believe him, and why would they? Mickey was still cursed. He’d brought back so many cartoon mice that had looked like Mickey, hoping that it was the spell causing him to not recognise Mickey that he’d lost count. And every time he did it, he could see everyone’s hearts break just a little bit more.

Oswald hopped back over to the car, disturbing Mickey again as he closed the door. Taking a deep breath, Oswald put the car into gear. “I hope this works”, he muttered to himself.

“Wh… where…?” Mickey started to wake, having been disturbed twice in a short space of time. He shuffled himself upwards and blinked his eyes open. The mouse shot backwards into his seat when he was greeted by a floral depiction of his face.

Oswald chuckled slightly as the car pulled forward, heading right to go through the tunnel under the railway. “Nice sleep?” he asked the mouse.

“Why are we here?” Mickey panicked as he tried to hide down into his seat and under the rags for clothes he had. “Last time I was here, I got thrown out!”

“We’re here because this is where we are going to remind the world that you **are** Mickey Mouse”, Oswald told him as he drove around the town square to head up Main Street. “Welcome home Mickey”.

Mickey’s curiosity got the better of him and he sat up in his seat. His eyes widened and became moist at his first sight of Sleeping Beauty Castle in twenty years. It was still as impressive as the first time he’d seen Walt’s designs for it. Main Street however…

As Oswald drove along, he could see the anguish in Mickey’s eyes. Most of the shops had closed, leaving many of the fronts boarded up. There were some guests walking along the street, but most seemed to be already heading home. None of them wore the kind of smiles Mickey remembered.

At the Hub, Oswald turned right heading towards the Matterhorn. This too looked like it had seen better days. One track was permanently closed, and the paint looked as though it was chipping all over the mountain. However, they continued right past the mountain and headed towards A Small World.

To the left of the attraction of World’s Fair fame, under a bridge for the railroad, was a gate that as far as guests were aware led to a backstage area. Which was mostly true. As also behind this gate was the largest of the several animation portals that scattered Disneyland, and this one led straight to the street where most of the characters lived.

The cast member guarding this gate saw Oswald’s car approaching and opened the larger of the wooden doors, allowing them to drive through. Mickey sunk back into the seat at the suspicious glare of the cast member as they passed. Oswald drove about two meters in before the world shimmered around them and their surroundings changed.

(Humans were never allowed in unless specifically invited i.e. a magic letter that allowed them entry. Mickey had always been the one for the Disney company to issue these invites. Walt and his family had basically free reign of the Cartoon World, visiting whenever they liked. Other notable people to have visited that Mickey could remember had been Virginia Davies, James Baskett, Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews)

Instantly, Mickey found himself in the cul-de-sac where he, Minnie, Donald and Goofy all used to live – and still hoped they did. The sky was no longer a vibrant blue as he remembered, but a grey that was very similar to what LA constantly had. The grass had changed to a dry brown instead of a luscious green, and the road had potholes everywhere you looked.

Oswald pulled the car up outside of Minnie’s house and Mickey pulled the remains of his clothes over his face. “I’m as keen as anyone to clear this curse Os, but Minnie is the last person I want to see today”, he told the rabbit.

“Don’t worry”, Oswald smiled, placing a hand on his brother’s head, “She doesn’t live here anymore”.

“Huh”, Mickey pulled back his rags.

Oswald sighed. “When Ortensia and I came back, there wasn’t anywhere for us to go. Minnie didn’t want us to go without a house, so she moved into yours and gave us her house”, the rabbit explained.

Mickey glanced over at his house. The yellow paint was peeling all over, yet the flower beds lining the path to the front door were perfect. “To be honest with ya Os, her house was just for show”, Mickey smiled sadly to himself, “Min and I are married”.

“I know”, Oswald smiled unbeknownst to Mickey. The rabbit opened the car door, forcing the mouse to turn his attentions back around. “C’mon, let’s get you in that shower”.


	3. The Explanation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey explains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically, most of this chapter is taken up with what happened in the 60th Special (if you haven't seen it, go find it. It is in parts on YouTube) and how it all went wrong. The reason Mickey is cursed is a bit naff, but I didn't want to complicate the situation any further.
> 
> Anyways, a bit more on my headcannon that I would like to explore in a future work is Wasteland. There are many Wastelands. Every studio has one and it is where unused and incomplete Toons live. Toons which are 'forgotten' live in the Toon World, but they don't tend to come to the real world anymore and just live out their day to day lives. Why Oswald was in the Wasteland is something I'd like to keep to myself for now as I don't want to spoil that future work, but as far as Mickey knows, there is an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit running around with the Universal Toons and he keeps himself to himself. Mickey knows there is a Disney Wasteland, but he doesn't know where it is.
> 
> Also, for those of you who are going to follow this story, I have now finalised my plan and have 20 chapters planned out. I've completed most of Chapter 4, and I know exactly how I want the following two chapters to play out. Stay tuned!

Although the outside of Minnie’s house still looked somewhat like how Mickey remembered, the interior was completely different. Oswald had completely stripped the interior (it wasn’t like the house meant anything considering the mice had lived together), and Mickey felt well and truly lost. All the pinks and purples were gone and in their place was modern furnishings. Modern, all except for one armchair which reminded Mickey of the one he had in his house.

Oswald had sent the mouse straight upstairs to the shower, citing that Ortensia would have twenty fits if she saw the state Mickey was in. Whilst Mickey showered, Oswald started on some food, digging out the cheese from the fridge. By the time Mickey was finished and steam was still rolling off his fur, Oswald had created a plethora of sandwiches and a selection of fruit juices. “Tuck in Mick”, Oswald told him as he headed back into the kitchen, “Ortensia will be on her way home and I’ve made quite the mess”.

Mickey smiled to himself as he picked up a cheese sandwich and sat down onto the sofa. He didn’t really know Oswald past what Walt had told him, but if they were anything alike, then the mess in the kitchen was probably quite spectacular. Rubbing the fur on top of his head with his towel, Mickey looked around the room.

Other than the furniture, it seemed rather sparse. Oswald didn’t seem to have amassed much stuff over the years. Hadn’t he been living around the Universal Toons? Why did he have so little? One thing Mickey couldn’t help but notice was the very large photograph on the wall. In the centre was Oswald and a black cat, but all around them were hundreds of small blue rabbits.

“Honey-bun, I’m home”, a voice called into the house as the front door slammed. Mickey jumped and hid down into his seat under the towel. He daren’t look behind to see the person walking in, just in case they didn’t recognise him and reacted the way most people did. “Ossie! You better not have made a mess in the kitchen again”, they grumbled from behind Mickey, “If you think you can avoid me by hiding under a towel, you are greatly mistaken”.

And with that, the towel was ripped from Mickey’s grasp. The newcomer gasped in shock at the lack of her husband beneath and stood staring whilst Mickey tried to hide beneath his hands. Oswald had mentioned Ortensia several times, but from that Mickey hadn’t known who to expect. She was a black cat with a white face, wearing a pink skirt and a matching hat like what Minnie used to wear. “Oh my gosh” she mumbled softly taking a step back from Mickey.

“Ortensia”, Oswald walked in from the door to the kitchen, drawing his wife’s attention to him.

“Ossie”, she took his hand as soon as he was close enough, “Is this…”

“Yep, this **is** Mickey”.

Ortensia turned back to Mickey who had calmed down a little. Looking at him, her expression softened. “He looks like you”, she said as she leant into Oswald. Mouse and rabbit exchanged relieved smiles and soon all three were sat tucking into the sandwiches.

They talked about nothing really, and most of the conversation was taken up with Oswald asking Ortensia about her day and what goings on there had been at the company whilst he’d been away. Even as out of practise as he was, Mickey was able to pick up on a few things. It sounded like they were trying to get a new movie underway, but it didn’t sound like they were having too much success. They talked about Florida and how people were found trespassing in the now closed MGM Studios Park. Finally, they discussed how many times Space Mountain had broken down today in the park.

“I’ve sent the bunnies over to help Horace”, Ortensia told Oswald, “We can’t lose another E-ticket attraction. And Horace is stretched thin even with us reducing the number of attractions open”.

Oswald nodded in thought as he scratched his head. As Mickey watched him complete this action he thought the rabbit looked tired and at his wit’s end. The state of the park had bothered Mickey as they had driven through, but to hear everything else not going the way Mickey knew it should have been, created a whole new sense of guilt inside of him. And seeing what it was doing to Oswald… He didn’t deserve this kind of pressure.

“I really messed things up”, Mickey found himself saying, twiddling his fingers.

Oswald looked up at the mouse who now couldn’t seem to look away from his hands. “No”, Oswald insisted. The strength in his voice caused Mickey to look up again. “Things may have gone South because of what has happened to you, but it isn’t your fault”.

Mickey smiled slightly at the loyalty his brother was showing him but looked back down at his hands. “I am partly to blame though”, Mickey admitted.

“How?” Ortensia responded before Oswald could, “You’ve had a curse placed upon you that you could have done nothing about”.

“I could’ve have not been an idiot”, Mickey muttered, “If I’d only listened…”

Silence hung in the air for a few moments whilst Oswald and Ortensia exchanged worried looks. “I think it’s time you told us the full story Mick”, Oswald sat forward in his chair, “Warts and all. We’ve only ever been told the ‘ _Disney_ ’ version”.

Mickey chuckled to himself at that last part. Looking up he found a smile to be on Oswald’s face as well. Taking a deep breath, Mickey sat up straight, and began to divulge the tale.

“Well, I suppose it all started when Walt died”, Mickey admitted, “I’d always been able to do magic, it was one of the many things that separated me from the other Toons. But when Walt passed away… It was if the magic had gone too. Yen Sid allowed me free use of his hat for a while, so that I could keep up the daily routines where I needed magic – shows, special appearances and events – but even he grew concerned and asked for the hat back.

“Conveniently, I “lost” the hat as soon as he asked, and fortunately for me, the need to use magic was becoming less with the improvements in the costumed characters at the parks. Then my 60th rolled around and Disney was quite big into television specials at the time. Minnie had one dedicated entirely to her, Donald had one, so it was obvious that I should have one.

“Anyways, the idea was to have a big show where I’d perform various old sketches, we’d have guest appearances, and to wrap it all up there was to be a big finale with a cake and fireworks. Just before I was due to go on, I suppose you could say I had a loss of faith in the whole show. What people expected these days was completely different to what we had planned.

“So, I “found” the hat in my trunk of props. One of Yen Sid’s rules for the hat was that I was never to be documented using it. I could be seen wearing yes, it was part of my costume from Fantasia, but I could not be seen using it. No pictures, no film. This was a live production, being broadcast live all over the country.

“I put it on, had a little practise on one of the nearby brooms, and one of Yen Sid’s new apprentices showed up. He’d tasked them with finding the hat and they were all over Disneyland looking for it, so I wasn’t too surprised to see him. He warned me not to use it, saying that it wasn’t mine to use or something like that.

“However, the director had cut Clara’s part short – I guess an operatic chicken wasn’t for everyone – and the finale was brought forward. I rushed out of my room, saw Rodger Rabbit helping backstage – he’d been one of my special guests in the show – and went out onstage to start the finale”.

It was at this point Mickey took a deep breath. “But, as with anything that Rodger tries to do, things started to go wrong when he wheeled out the cake. At first, I thought he’d been caught in some scenery ropes and that the show director was just going along with it to spice up the finale. But then he started knocking down parts of the set, and just when it was all too late, I realised the candle on the cake was Toon-dynamite.

“Cake went everywhere – all over me, all over the stage, all over the audience. Just as everything seemed ruined, I remembered the hat, and rushed to fetch it. With the swish of my hand, the cake reconstructed itself, the sets went back to normal, everything was the way it was before Rodger had helped. I was just about the remove the hat, when the audience began chanting for more.

“You know how it is with us. We must entertain. I said to heck with it and went too far. The apprentice summoned me to Yen Sid’s workshop with the hat in tow. Yen Sid was nowhere to be seen, and I think the apprentice must’ve felt it was his duty to take disciplining me into his own hands.

“Magic powers are special,  
You must find your own.  
You stole someone else’s,  
Now you must atone.  
When people look upon you,  
They won’t know who you are.  
You must seek out your own magic,  
You’ll find it isn’t far”

“So, whenever somebody looked at you, they forgot that you were Mickey Mouse?” Ortensia asked softly.

Mickey nodded. “Problem is, I’d never lost my magic. I’d always had it. After Walt died, I just lost confidence in my ability. After a few days of wondering around LA and trying to convince people I was me, I came back home and realised – with the help of some very talented cast members – that most of my magic was simple and was something everyone could do.

“ _A laugh, a smile, and a warm embrace_ ”, Mickey smiled, almost singing the words. “Everything Walt ever did was to make someone feel happy, and that was my magic. To make people happy. Once I realised that, well…” The Mouse proceeded to demonstrate by lifting his hand in the air and the sofa Oswald and Ortensia were sat on floated into the air.

The pair giggled slightly as Mickey brought them back down to the ground. Oswald placed his feet on the ground and as he stood, a thought occurred to him. “But then what? These cast members helped you out…”

“…and then they realised they didn’t know who I was, and Goofy kicked me out”, Mickey hung his head.

“Hang on. This whole curse is based on a technicality that you needed to “find” your own magic”, the rabbit got slightly louder as he became irate. Mickey nodded the affirmative, and Oswald found himself tapping his frustration out through his foot. “Gr, if I ever get my hands on that wizard!”

“Honey-bun”, Ortensia placed her hand on Oswald’s shoulder, “We need to keep it down. If someone hears you, it could throw our whole plan out the window”.

Mickey sat to attention and leant forward. “What is your plan exactly?”

Oswald arched an eyebrow at his brother. “Can you use your magic to fix the park up a bit? Bring it back to life?”

Mickey frowned in confusion and shrugged slightly. “The park is tied to my magic, so I should be able to, yeah”.

“Good”, Oswald nodded, “We need people to believe that you are **you** , and the easiest way to start will be to grab everyone’s attention. Everyone knows that your magic is what made this place… well for the lack of a better word: magic, so once they see that things are back to how they should be, we’ll have no problems”.

“The next step, and probably hardest, will be all your friends remembering you”, Ortensia continued as she came and sat on the arm of Mickey’s chair, “Yen Sid said that once they remember you, the whole world should fall in line behind them”.

“Hmm”, Mickey cast his gaze downwards. The last time he saw Goofy, he’d been the one throwing him out of Disneyland the first time. Donald had been arrested and subsequently released due to lack of evidence (it was absurd they thought he was behind it in the first place!). And Minnie… “Minnie will be the hardest”, Mickey told them quietly.

“We’ll leave Minnie to last then”, Oswald announced, producing a pen and paper. “Let’s list them out. Who will be the easiest to convince?”

All three of them thought hard for a few seconds. There were lots of people Mickey knew well enough, but not well enough at the same time. This first person would have to be close to Mickey, but at the same time, if it went wrong, the game could be up. A smile crept its way onto Mickey’s face as the perfect candidate came to mind. This person was loyal to Mickey through thick and thin and could even recognise the difference between him and his exact copy.

“I know just the dog”, Mickey smiled, “Pluto”.


	4. Heart Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oswald and Mickey set about fixing the park, but they run into a snag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More headcannons. Sorry.
> 
> In Mickey's bedroom at Walt Disney World, he has a pair of round glasses next to a book. Not sure about Disneyland. But anyways, Mickey being the age he is, I don't find it at all surprising that he could need reading glasses.
> 
> Toons who are made for each other and debut together have a special bond that is more than just the love they have for each other. They know where each other is, they know how they feel with one look. So Minnie looking at Mickey and not knowing who he is, is almost killing her. I will build upon this in further chapters.
> 
> Also, due to Mickey's disappearance, they never built DCA or went ahead with the Toontown expansion.

Minnie came back to the house feeling completely and utterly drained. She’d spent the whole day at the studio in meetings, back and forth between company executives, imagineers and film directors. Her 80th birthday was fast approaching, and Oswald had dumped supervising all the arrangements on her. It was his way of trying to keep her involved with the company – to give her something to focus on, to get her up in the morning, to give her anything to do other than mope around Toontown or the parks all day.

She cursed the rabbit’s name as she removed her jacket and hung it on the bannister. A rapid knock at the front door made her jump a foot off the ground. Who could this be? At 6pm, there weren’t many people who would dare interrupt her evening, especially after the day she’d had. Knowing Daisy, she’d have probably told the whole of Toontown to keep their distance from Minnie today. And if this was Oswald at her door, she’d wring his ears. With a grumble, she turned the doorknob.

“Hi Minnie”, Ortensia smiled, “How did your day at the studio go?”

“Slowly and painfully”, Minnie sighed, glad that it was only Ortensia. The cat responded to Minnie’s description of her day with a giggle, which lifted Minnie’s spirits slightly. “Do you want to come in for a drink? I think I have some fresh juice in the fridge…”

“Oh, if you don’t mind”, Ortensia rocked on her feet, “Oswald still isn’t back”.

Minnie paused and frowned as the cat walked in. “But, I’ve just seen his car on the driveway”.

“The car is back, but no Ossie”, Ortensia replied quickly. “He’s probably hiding in the park somewhere. He’s left a hell of a mess in the kitchen”.

Minnie rolled her eyes and smiled. That was something she’d been all too familiar of in the past. A certain mouse she’d known was exactly the same.

Whilst this exchange between the girls was taking place at the front of the house, another conversation was being had at the back of the house between the certain mouse and Oswald. After deciding upon a plan of action, they’d quickly realised that Mickey had nothing. No clothes, no shoes, no pyjamas, and no reading glasses (this Oswald had a good long hard laugh at). After slinging on a pair of Oswald’s shorts, the three of them had left the house to do a quick retrieval before Minnie came home. However, as they stood at the front door, Minnie drove past, and a new plan had to be quickly thought up. Breaking in whilst Ortensia distracted Minnie was what they had come up with. “Are you sure Pluto won’t be here?” Mickey whispered nervously as he handed Oswald his backdoor key that he still had after all this time.

Oswald nodded in response as he took the key from Mickey. “Minnie’s been out all day”, Oswald began to explain, “Which means that he’s been hanging around in the park. Most likely with Pete on the Mark Twain”.

“Pete?” Mickey squeaked.

“Yeah”, Oswald chuckled at Mickey’s surprise. “He took pity on Pluto when he saw how depressed he was. Pete, Horace, Goofy and me all take it in turns looking after him”.

Guilt washed over Mickey again as Oswald turned the key in the lock. Even Pete had been affected by all of this. Although Pete always seemed to be the villain and hated everyone’s guts, he wasn’t that bad. Sure, none of them got along with him, and he wasn’t the nicest of Toons, but he was still part of their cartoon family. He was one of the originals. But Mickey never thought he cared that much for any of them, and even less so for Pluto.

As Oswald opened the door slowly, they could hear the girls talking and giggling. Hearing Minnie for the first time in so many years hit Mickey in the chest like a sledgehammer. He stopped in his tracks, and the world around him could’ve turned pink and he wouldn’t have noticed. Oswald noticed Mickey wasn’t following, and he reached out for his brother’s hand. Mickey jumped back to reality and looked to Oswald. “It’ll be alright Mickey”, the rabbit told him, “Let’s just focus on getting your stuff. Minnie will remember you. Just not right now”.

Mickey nodded in understanding, and the pair crept into the dark kitchen, trying to remain as quiet as possible. Oswald led as they tiptoed towards the door, but Mickey couldn’t help but to pause and look around. He was in his house, his kitchen.

Nothing had changed – aside from it being a lot cleaner due to him not trying to cook dinner every Friday. Yet the stain on the ceiling from when he’d exploded a spaghetti bolognaise was still clear as day. By the phone on the wall were still his scribbled notes to contact this person or call someone about that problem. On the fridge the magnets had remained in pretty much the same place as he remembered, but the pictures of him and Minnie on one of their many holidays hadn’t. Had Minnie gotten rid of them? Had she forgotten that it was him in the pictures with her?

“I’ll just go and get the drinks”, they suddenly heard Minnie say, and the boys froze.

The pair of them exchanged a worried glance and both rushed to hide behind the door. “Wait!” Ortensia called, sounding only slightly panicked. Minnie had stopped, and Ortensia tried to compose herself again. “I’ll do it”, she announced a bit calmer, “After the day you’ve had, sounds like you need to just sit down”.

But Minnie didn’t move. “Minnie dear”, Ortensia said softly, “Is everything okay?”

Mickey’s eyes went wide, and he rushed to look through the gap between the door and the frame, pushing down Oswald in the process and peering between his long ears. Minnie was stood stock still, staring into the dark kitchen, tears in her eyes. The ache in Mickey’s heart returned and he grasped the fur on his chest. Not surprisingly to Mickey, Minnie did exactly the same.

Ortensia came up behind Minnie, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Even still, Minnie jumped. “Sorry!” she giggled nervously, “I thought… I felt… Sorry Ortensia. Must’ve been one of my moments”.

As Ortensia soothed Minnie and guided her towards the sofas, Oswald looked up at Mickey who was still pushing down on his head. Said mouse was still staring into space yet increasing the pressure down of Oswald’s head. “Mick?” Oswald whispered up, hoping to convey a sense of strain.

“Minnie has ‘moments’?” Mickey practically squeaked as he removed his hands from Oswald’s head.

“Yeah”, Oswald replied as he straightened out his ears, “When she remembers… well… you”.

Mickey looked down to his hands, clearly feeling the guilt again, and keeping something else to himself. “But I feel that you’re possibly going to tell me that wasn’t a moment…” Oswald tried to pry something from the mouse.

“She knew I was here”, he said so quietly Oswald barely heard it.

“How?”

“Another thing you’d call magic”, Mickey smiled to himself, “It’s not something most toons experience. It’s a bond between toons made together and for each other. Minnie and I, we debuted together, and we hadn’t been apart since. We knew where the other was at all times, we could feel what they feel with one look…”

A pause hung in the air. “That’s why this has hit her so much more than anyone else”, Oswald said in realisation, “It’s not just that you are Mickey and Minnie. She looks at you; her head screams that it is not you, but her heart says otherwise”.

Mickey nodded. They watched as Ortensia consoled Minnie in the living room. The ache in Mickey’s heart remained, but he knew there was nothing to be done now. Yet the thing he wanted to most do in the world was to go and hold his wife.

“I’ll just be in the kitchen!” Ortensia announced. If Minnie hadn’t been so tired and wrapped in emotion, she may have noticed that the cat’s announcement wasn’t directed at her.

Oswald’s ears stood to attention and he pulled Mickey from their hiding place. Ortensia hung at the door and gestured the pair to crawl forward. Tentatively, Oswald and Mickey crept along on all fours, heading for the stairs. “Orange or apple, Minnie?” Ortensia asked, drawing Minnie’s attention away from where Mickey and Oswald were headed.

As Minnie turned her head, the boys pressed themselves against the back of the sofa. “Apple please”, Minnie sniffed, “I’ll come help with the cookies”.

As Minnie stood, the boys took the opportunity and quickly snuck to the stairs. Once Minnie was in the kitchen, the pair dashed upstairs towards the bedroom to retrieve the required necessities.

* * *

 

Oswald landed on the lawn with a thud, dusting down his blue shorts and taking deep breath of the fresh night air. Mickey soon landed next to him, and the rabbit dared look behind at the distance they had dropped. “So glad we could leave through the window”, Oswald stretched, “I didn’t want to have to sneak back through”.

“Yeah”, Mickey agreed, although he wasn’t paying Oswald his full attention.

Instead, Mickey was fixated on the sensation of his own clothes on him again. His red shorts and yellow shoes made him feel like himself again. A new pair of white gloves made him look sharper, and the pair of reading glasses on his forehead gave him confidence for the future. “I still can’t believe you have reading glasses”, Oswald chuckled.

“Oh, shut up!”, Mickey pushed Oswald on the arm, “I’m just going to hide these pyjamas and my glasses for Ortensia to find later”.

Oswald watched as Mickey tucked the bundle under the bottom step of his house. Mickey seemed more like himself. Not that Oswald had ever met Mickey before today, it just seemed like the mouse was more comfortable. Or as comfortable as he could be. He watched as the mouse stood, taking a good long look at his house before he had to leave it again. Mickey’s shoulders sagged as he sighed, and Oswald hoped for his brother’s sake that this would all be over soon. Any amount of time being forgotten was too long.

“So”, Mickey turned to him with a hopeful smile, “The park?”

“Ahem”, Oswald coughed, straightening himself out, “Yes, the park. C’mon”.

* * *

 

After passing back through into the real world, the pair made their way to the centre of the park. Oswald explained that the park closed at 6pm most days, and the place would be clear and mostly empty by the time they ventured back in at about 8pm. Horace would apparently one of the few toons in the park, working on the remaining track in Space Mountain, and the rest would be security. Humans if they were still in the park would be carrying out minor maintenance work, but as Mickey had noticed on their drive through earlier, there was probably little left working for them to maintain.

At the Hub in front of the castle, the pair looked around at the empty park. According to Oswald, the last time they had a regular firework show was over ten years ago, and they seldom used them since due to the expense. The Main Street lights didn’t come on anymore, also due to the expense and the fact that they park closed a 6pm most of the time. The trees didn’t get trimmed as that was also an expense and the flowers in the beds were long lasting, drought resistant and low maintenance – also to cut the cost. Benches were removed and not replaced when broken, and all food carts had been removed as another cost cutting measure. Bins had been reduced as well and they had stopped using horse trolleys as well. “At least the park is still open”, Oswald tried to keep it positive for Mickey.

Mickey looked at his feet with guilt, and immediately became annoyed. Not at himself, not at Oswald. Not even at Yen Sid’s apprentice. He was annoyed at everything that had happened since he had been forgotten. How much more damage had all of this done? The mouse started to feel the guilt ease, and a sense of determination began to build. With a sharp sniff, Mickey stood tall, rolled his shoulders back and planted his feet into the ground. “Let’s bring this place back to life”, Mickey told Oswald with an authority that made the rabbit take a step back.

He watched as Mickey bent down closer to the ground, and the mouse kept his hands just above the ground. Mickey began to take several deep and loud breaths and closed his eyes in concentration. Oswald noticed Mickey’s hands begin to shake very slightly, and was it just him, or were his gloves glowing?

A light was emitted from the space between Mickey’s hands and the floor, increasing to such intensity Oswald had to shield his eyes. Mickey looked to Oswald and smiled mischievously before cupping the light in his hands and standing up with it like he was holding a ball. Sparks of magic dissipated into the air around Mickey as he looked at the bewildered rabbit. Oswald, so captivated with the magic it bordered on hypnotism, began to lean forward. Mickey, noticing this, clapped his hands together, and the ball disappeared causing Oswald to jump backwards.

“Not funny”, Oswald grumbled at a giggling Mickey, “C’mon, enough with the theatrics. The longer we are stood here, the sooner someone will notice us”.

Mickey smiled a began to rub his hands together. The light that he had held in his hands, was now emanating from his hands. With a flourish, he pointed straight down Main Street. A beam of golden light began to dance its way down the street, turning on lights as it passed each bulb. Shop fronts were renewed, and those that were boarded up suddenly weren’t.

Mickey then directed his hands towards Adventureland and Frontierland, and the same happened again. Within the lands, lights switched on, animatronics that had been dormant came back to life, plants were given a whole new lease of life, and rides that had been reduced due to faults suddenly spurred back into action. The same with Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. A neon hue signalled the life back in land of tomorrow, and through the castle gate Oswald could see the carousel turning.

Oswald didn’t think he could take much more, when he noticed Mickey rubbing his hands together again. “And now for the grand finale!” Mickey beamed as he shot his hands into the air.

From each of his fingers, a glistening shot of magic was fired up, as Oswald watched as they got higher and higher. Then, in a flash of light, they exploded into several colours and the loud bang echoed around the park. Mickey began to dance around, shooting magic out of different fingers on each hand, creating a display in the sky that rivalled the 4th July fireworks Oswald had allowed. The rabbit couldn’t help but find himself laughing along with Mickey as he danced around with glee.

Mickey stopped and looked at the castle. With one finger he began to draw an arc over the towers from right to left, whilst with the hand, he drummed out a tune with his fingers in the air. Oswald watched as in the sky, a single white flare followed the arc Mickey had drawn and as if from nowhere, a familiar tune played around the Hub _“When you wish upon a star…”_

Mickey finished with a large exhale of breath as he looked around at his handiwork. The park looked as though he had never left – minus the people who should be there at this time of night on a Friday. Oswald looked as exhausted as he felt. The rabbit seemed to have been so overwhelmed with what was happening around him, he didn’t seem to know what to do. “That was…”, Oswald tried to start, “That was amazing! The guys had told me what you could do but that was…”

“HEY!” a deep, angry voice shouted at them from the Frontierland entrance.

Oswald and Mickey quickly exchanged worried glances. “Pete!” they squeaked at each other.


	5. Boats, Rabbits and Bunnies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pete likes boats. He doesn't like things happening without his permission. And Horace is a really good babysitter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More headcannon: I have a list of each of the main cast's different responsibilities/jobs within the company, but instead of just dropping it, I'm going to try and allude to them in the body of this and following works... Then again I'll probably eventually put the list up to make things easier. Just not yet.

Pete had always enjoyed working with the various modes of transportation in Disneyland. Be it the few Main Street vehicles that still ran, the Monorail that Horace somehow managed to keep going, or even the now non-functioning Skyway and PeopleMover; he’d always found some sense of familiarity and security in them. His particular favourites were the boats on the Rivers of America, but he much preferred the Mark Twain over the Columbia. Not that the Columbia was any less enjoyable, but the old steamboat struck more of a chord with him. The mouse used to say it was because of their first cartoon together and how big of a part Steamboat Bill had played. Pete had never admitted he agreed with the mouse, but he agreed with the mouse.

The mouse had never put Pete in charge of transportation in the park due to his lack of mechanical understanding, but since the rabbit had taken over he’d let the toons fit into Disneyland where they could to lessen the load on the humans that remained. Pete had remained Head of Security, but when he could he would captain one of the boats – all depending upon which Horace had working at the time. Pluto would join him whenever he was on the boats, greeting and getting as much attention as he could from the guests. But even that barely filled the mouse shaped hole in his heart. Pete would watch how his tail would barely wag but would always go that bit more when a child carried on a mouse-toy.

Docking the steamboat up for the night after his final circle of the island (people still tried every now and again to camp overnight!), Pete made a note of his hours and the number of guests against the number of trips he’d completed in the ship’s logbook. This last year especially they’d had a downturn in guest numbers, and Pete could sense that Oswald was becoming desperate.

So desperate it would seem, that ALL the lights in New Orleans Square flashed on and music started blaring out from what Pete had believed to be defunct speakers. To add to matters, Pluto began barking wildly at something, raced of the boat, and ran straight into the portal that took you to the front entrance. “Dumb mutt”, Pete mumbled to himself as he gathered the last of his belongings. “Those cats have as much right to be here as you do!” he bellowed after Pluto.

Grumbling to himself, Pete zipped up his bag and hopped off the boat. He had to admit, he had missed how the park had looked at night in the glow from all the lights. But he knew Oswald would probably have an earful from Mr McDuck in the morning about wasting money or something. Oh, how he wished the mouse would come back!

As he meandered along through Frontierland in the direction of the Hub, Pete swore he heard the sharp wine of a firework. A loud bang and a flash of sparks in the sky proved him correct. Something certainly was up now, and Pete found himself picking up the pace. Last time there had been fireworks that weren’t 4th July or New Year’s related, it had been a bunch of teenagers who had broken into the park. “Not on my watch”, Pete announced to himself as he marched forward.

As he entered the Hub, he swore he could see two small figures watching the display in front of the castle. “HEY!” he shouted as he broke into a laboured jog.

He watched as what he still thought were two figures rush about as if they were hiding something away. With Pete almost hyperventilating from his burst of energy, he got closer and had relief wash over him. It hadn’t been two people, but rather one rabbit – the low lighting must’ve been playing tricks on him.

“You alright Pete?” Oswald asked, “Don’t think I’ve ever seen ya move so fast”.

“Os…” Pete panted, “Oswald… Ya need… Ya needs my permission to set of fireworks. People could think yous them teenagers again”.

“Sorry Pete”, Oswald scratched behind his left ear, “Horace and I were trying some stuff out. The company wants to do something for Minnie’s birthday later this month”.

Pete studied Oswald closely. Something still didn’t seem right. “Is that so”, Pete said his suspicion clear in his tone.

“Ye-yeah”, Oswald replied nervously. Quickly pressing a finger to his right ear, it would’ve seemed that he was possibly wearing an earpiece. “Horace, set off a firework for Pete would ya?”

As Oswald dropped his hand, a firework shot up into the sky above the castle. Pete’s mouth dropped open as the sky lit up in reds and greens. It was beautiful. Nevertheless…

“Alright”, Pete grumbled, “Yous is off the hook for now, rabbit. But keep it tos a minimum. We don’t have the dough to be paying any fine from dah city”.

“Sure”, Oswald saluted, “No more fireworks tonight”.

“Good”, Pete huffed in satisfaction. Pulling up his trousers, Pete made to go forward in the direction of the castle, towards the nearest portal to the Cartoon World. “And turn some of them lights off”, he added in an almost caring tone, “Mr McDuck will rip ya ears off if he finds yous turned on all them lights”.

“Thanks Pete”, Oswald replied softly, looking down and towards under the nearest bench. “Wait!” he suddenly leapt into the air, “Where’s Pluto?”

“Mutt got a whiff of somethings as soon as all the light came on”, Pete replied, “Lasts I saw, he ran through the portal to the front of the park”.

“Uh… Thanks Pete”, the rabbit responded as he suspiciously stepped over to the nearest bench, almost as if he were hiding something…

“Hmph”, Pete remarked, shifting his trousers around his hips (or where one would imagine Pete’s hips to be) once again.

Oswald watched as Pete disappeared into the castle. With his foot, he tapped something under the bench. Mickey crawled out cautiously and let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. “Phew”, Mickey sighed as he wiped his brow, “That was a close one”.

“Hm”, Oswald hummed in agreement as they both continued to look towards the castle. “However, we now have no clue where Pluto is”.

Silenced followed as the brother’s pondered over that fact.

“Ooof”, Mickey cried suddenly as the wind was knocked from him, tumbling forward as a mass of black, yellow and red.

“Arf! Arf!” Pluto barked happily between licks to Mickey’s face.

“Ah ha ha”, Mickey laughed, tears in his eyes, “I’m please tah see ya too, boy!”

Oswald chuckled to himself as he watched dog and mouse reunite. Pluto’s whip of a tail wagged so fast it was just a blur, and Mickey’s tail waved back and forth also. Pluto tried to climb all over Mickey, and just as the mouse would find his footing Pluto would knock him back down again. Mickey’s face was soon glistening in the glow of the streetlighting – a mix of happy tears and Pluto saliva.

This exchange carried on for about ten minutes before Mickey finally managed to calm Pluto down, yet his tail never slowed. “Well, if everyone remembers me as easily as you do boy, we’ll have no problem”, Mickey beamed from ear to ear. “What’s our next move Os?”

Oswald took a deep breath as he looked around. “As much as it pains me to say and for you to hear, Pete’s probably right”, Oswald faux grimaced and Mickey faked being shot in the heart with a small giggle. “Scrooge will probably kill me in the morning when he finds out -  even though this is all being powered by magic”, he gestured around at the whole park, “We better turn in for the night. Fresh start in the morning and we can start tackling everyone one by one”.

Mickey nodded, and soon the brothers began to walk back to the portal at Small World. All the while, Pluto continued to bark and dance around them, licking Mickey when he could. At Oswald’s insistence, Mickey gathered his magic back in, turning off lights as they passed them one by one. Every now and again, Pluto would catch a whiff of something and disappear down a path or all you’d see is half a dog sticking out of a hedge.

Just as Small World came into view, Pluto once again disappeared down a path, but this time barking as he went. Oswald and Mickey stopped to wait for him, but panic began to set in as Pluto returned. In the dark, it seemed there was a figure following the dog as he danced and barked his way back.

Mickey leapt behind Oswald as they stood their ground. This was not part of the plan! Oswald gulped as he stood tall and tried to hide Mickey behind him.

“Oh! Oswald”, Horace Horsecollar called as he recognised the rabbit, “Glad I caught you. I was going to speak to you in the morning but-"

“I’m really sorry Horace, but I’m kinda in a hurry”, Oswald cut him off, stepping back slowly as he pushed into Mickey.

“But trust me its really important!” Horace jogged forward trying to make up the distance Oswald was creating.

Oswald sighed, realising he wasn’t going to get anywhere fast. “Fine”, Oswald replied as he heard Mickey squeak in fear behind him, “What’s wrong, Horace?”

Horace stopped in his tracks. “Well uh, technology is advancing too fast, fuel prices keep going up and the internet is still too dang slow!” the horse answered, ticking things off on his hand as he approached.

Oswald slapped a hand to his forehead. “No!” he almost growled, jumping up and down in frustration, “What’s wrong HERE?”

“Oh, uh, the park’s come back to life”, Horace final answered, stopping in front of Oswald… and Mickey. Oswald’s jumping had caused him to reveal Mickey, and now the mouse was stood clear as day – well, as clear as a mouse could be in the streetlighting – in front of Horace. But Horace didn’t even flinch. “Oh, hey Mickey”, the horse waved absentmindedly, his attentions still mainly on Oswald.

The brothers were dumbfounded! Horace had just recognised Mickey without even paying him any attention! Was it really going to be this easy? It couldn’t be surely? Their jaws would’ve probably dropped to the floor, hadn’t Horace suddenly realised what he had just said.

“MICKEY!” he shouted in surprise, his eyes going wide. “Oh my gosh!” he leapt forward and picked the mouse up into a hug, “You’re back! No wonder everything is working again. Ya used your magic didn’t ya?”

“Nice to see you again too, Horace”, Mickey managed to say through Horace’s squeezing.

“When’d you get back? Does Minnie know? Where’ve you been?” Horace started rattling on as he put Mickey down, “Gosh, so much has changed since…”

“Now here’s the problem Horace”, Oswald stopped the mechanic before he could go any further, “Nobody can know that Mick’s back”.

“What? I don’ understand…”

“I was cursed so that nobody could recognise me”, Mickey told his oldest friend solemnly.

“We’re trying to break it Toon by Toon”, Oswald continued, “Pluto was the first, and you’re now the second. Now we know we can break it this way, we are going to take it slow from now on”.

Horace nodded as he took this in. He looked at Mickey and wondered how someone wouldn’t be able to recognise him. He was Mickey Mouse! “Well, to be honest with ya fellas”, he chuckled to himself, “When everything came back to life in Tomorrowland, it did cross my mind that Mickey had to be back. Only his magic could accomplish something so fast”.

Mickey and Oswald looked to each other and shared a smile. That was how this curse was going to be broken. By proving to everyone that Mickey had to be Mickey Mouse, because only he could be Mickey Mouse. Oswald placed a hand on Mickey’s shoulder as Mickey laughed back some tears.

A roar and clanging of metal followed by screams of joy broke the moment. The four toons looked backwards and at the Matterhorn. There was someone – or somethings – on the ride. “The bunnies!” Oswald cried as he leapt forward.

“Don’t worry!” Horace caught Oswald mid jump, “I told them they could have one more ride each before they had to go home”.

“Ya sure that’s wise?” Oswald cocked an eyebrow. It had become a parkwide cause to take care of his bunnies, every toon helping when they could. It takes a village… or a company the size of Disney in this case… “They’ll be bouncin’, and Ortensia will have your head if they won’t sleep”.

“Then be on my head it shall”, Horace took a bow. “You two head back. Sounds like you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow”.

“And the bunnies?”

“I’ll count them back in don’ cha worry”, Horace promised.

With a smile and a wave, Oswald, Mickey and Pluto carried on towards the portal. Mickey however kept looking back at the Matterhorn, listening to the screams of happiness. Frowning, he caught up to Oswald’s side. “So uh… How many-"

“Four hundred and twenty”, Oswald cut him off.

Mickey stopped dead in his tracks as Oswald continued. If Mickey had kept up, he would’ve seen Oswald desperately trying to hold back hysterical laughter as they neared the portal. Just as Oswald and Pluto began to step through, Mickey burst into a run. “Now hang on just a minute”, he called after his brother, and with that they disappeared into the Cartoon World.


	6. Goode and Loud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Has Mickey's firework display had the desired effect?

Mickey became aware of something asleep on top of him the following morning. He’d probably just had the best night’s sleep he’d had in the last twenty years. Even if it was on Oswald’s couch. As soon as he’d tucked himself into the sheets Ortensia had dug out, and his head had hit the pillow, he’d entered unconsciousness. Pluto had curled himself up at the other end of the sofa, so Mickey assumed Pluto had just curled up on top of him to keep warm at some point.

He had no idea what time it was, but he could feel the heat of the morning sun coming through the window and hitting his hands, and he could feel himself trying to close his eyes tighter to keep out the daylight. How he wished for just one more hour of sleep! But that was always the way, wasn’t it? Unfortunately for Mickey, Walt had instilled a tendency within him to rise early and go to bed late. Something about it being his favourite times of day, especially when he was at Disneyland. And Mickey couldn’t fault him there.

With a contented sigh, Mickey blinked his eyes open expecting to see Pluto staring back at him, also ready to start the day. However, he was greeted by a different sight that was far cuter and fluffier than Pluto. Curled up in tiny balls or sprawled out with limbs going in every direction were tiny little blue bunnies. Some were on the back of the sofa, others were nestled down in-between him and the sofa back. He could see Pluto had vacated the sofa at some point and had his own share of bunnies asleep on him over on the rug in front of the television. And there was even one very cute one lightly snoring into Mickey’s face on his chest.

Mickey couldn’t help but let out an audible “Aw”, which he instantly regretted. Suddenly, tens – maybe hundreds – of eyes were looking straight at him.

“Uncle Mickey is awake!” one of the bunnies cried, and they all immediately bounced up into the air cheering.

The ones on top of Mickey winded their Uncle as they landed back down, and soon Mickey was surround by what he imagined to be four hundred and twenty bouncing bunnies. They were jumping all over the place, swinging off the furniture, chasing each other, fighting for the best place to be able to see their Uncle.

“Alright kittens”, a very tired Ortensia called from the top of the stairs, dressed in a fluffy pink dressing gown and slippers, “Head off into the park now. Uncle Mickey will play with you later”.

“Woohoo!” “Yeah!” “Do you think he’ll do his magic for us?”

Mickey watched the exodus of bunnies as they left through the front door and even the windows. He looked out the window to see them disappear down the street towards the park portal as a mass of blue that could be mistaken for flood of water at a distance. Ortensia stood next to him and let out a loud yawn.

“Sorry”, she mumbled, “They insisted when they came home last night that they wanted to sleep in here with you. They were all very quiet and well behaved about it too”.

Mickey smiled. “When Oswald said how many of them there were last night, I don’t think I could comprehend how many that was”, he admitted, “And I don’t think anything would have woken me up last night. That’s the best night’s sleep I’ve had in years”.

“Good”, Ortensia nodded, “Coffee? Oswald will be down in a second. He’s just doing his stretches”.

“Yes please”, Mickey replied eagerly as the cat headed to the kitchen through the now empty living room. “Stretches?”

“You have glasses, I do stretches”, Oswald said from the top of the stairs, “Come’s from getting older”.

Mickey chuckled to himself. As toons, they were never going to get ‘old’ unless they wanted to, but sometimes signs of their true age managed to sneak through. “So, what’s the plan for today?” Mickey wondered, looking forward to sorting this curse out once and for all.

“Well, it’s seven now. Park will open at ten”, he explained as he nodded his head directing Mickey towards the kitchen, “I’ll have a ‘cast managers’ meeting about eight-ish in the park somewhere, followed swiftly by a meeting with all the characters who have volunteered to help in the park today. My gut feeling is that what you did last night will cause enough of a stir that I won’t be summoned to the studio and that more characters will want to be in the park because of it”.

Sitting down at the kitchen table, Ortensia brought over two steaming cups of coffee before returning to get her own cup and then sitting beside Oswald. “I hope it’s not too much of a stir”, Ortensia admitted to the boys, “It’s great that the characters might want to work, but we need the humans to make the park function properly. And if there is too much of a stir caused, it might be too much for them to handle”.

“That’s a good point”, Oswald hummed in agreement. He crossed his arms in thought, and Mickey recognised the look. It was the same look he used to have when he came across a conundrum in the park. Oswald really had filled his shoes.

“You still have a list of all the cast members, right?” Mickey began to throw his own two cents in.

“Yeah…”, Oswald replied, trying to see where Mickey was going with this.

“Including ex cast members?”

“Yeah…”

“It’s a Saturday, isn’t it”, Mickey shrugged his shoulders, “Why not give some of them a ring and see if they fancy the work?”.

“Hmm”, Oswald squinted his eyes as he thought about Mickey’s idea. “It might work. Who’s going to make the calls though?”

Mickey looked at Oswald in disbelief. “You have four hundred and twenty bunnies”, Mickey said deadpan, “Give them a script and a target, and you’ll be sorted in no time. How many do you think we’ll need?”

“There’ll be about five hundred of them coming in today”, Ortensia said as she thought about the idea herself, “Maybe a thousand more to come in over the different shifts?”

“Two thousand”, Oswald stated aloud, “My gut feeling is that were going to need at least one and a half first thing until after lunch, and then a further thousand to cover the afternoon and closing shift”.

“Sounds good to me!” Mickey smiled, the feeling of accomplishment was certainly missed.

“Excellent”, Oswald agreed, “Let’s start on this script”.

Oswald bounced out of his seat, and in that one leap landed in front of the fridge. Grabbing the pad of paper and the accompanying pencil on a string magnetically stuck to the fridge door, he then jumped back again in one big leap. Mickey pulled his chair around closer to Oswald, and they both began to natter about how to start the bunnies’ script.

“Right”, Ortensia announced, stopping the brothers before they went any further. Pointing to the television on the kitchen wall: “If you two don’t mind, I’m going to put the news on whilst I make breakfast”.

With that, the television turned on with a swish of the remote in her hand. The channel it opened on was a local human show Mickey recognised from years ago. It was the Goode and Loud show on Network News if he remembered correctly. It had changed from its late eighties appearance Mickey remembered and the two hosts were significantly older, but it was still the same show he remembered tuning into every morning before heading out to the park.

The catchy theme tune played out quickly before cutting to an image of the two hosts sifting through sheets of paper. “I’m Dudley Goode”, the man started, sitting forward in his seat.

“And I’m Mia Loud”, the lady added with a smile.

 ‘Breaking News’ in big red letters then rolled across the bottom of the screen, followed quickly by what looked like helicopter footage of Disneyland. ‘Pandemonium at the House of Mouse’ was the headline that accompanied it. Oswald and Mickey shared concerned looks before turning back to the screen.

“Breaking news this morning”, Goode started, the television cutting away from the helicopter footage to very grainy footage of fireworks, “A fireworks display was seen over Disneyland last night, well after normal park hours. Witnesses report that the very short display of fireworks was very reminiscent of the old nightly shows in the park”.

“Speculation as to why such as show was conducted has garnered a great amount of interest in the park once again…”, Loud continued, the footage cutting to more aerial images of the park, zooming in on queues of people already at the gates, “…and there are already reports of heavy traffic headed for Disneyland this morning as people travel to investigate”.

“I think your gut was right Os”, Mickey stated the obvious, signalling the necessity to get the script done as soon as possible.


	7. Rude Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minnie doesn't want to go into work today. A couple of ducks have other ideas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little overdue sorry. Started a new job which doesn't allow for much free time. Hoping to have more out in a week.

Minnie’s eyes blinked open in the morning sun onto the empty pillow beside her. At one time in the last twenty years, just waking up to this would have been too much. She’d spent most of those early years sofa surfing between all her friend’s houses, unable to be in the same house with the memories of him. She would look at some pictures and see a stranger standing with her, and her heart would break. Now though, it was just a bottomless empty hole where her heart once sat.

Rolling over to face the bedside table, Minnie reached for her alarm clock. The glowing digital screen displayed 9:05. With a large groan, Minnie swung her legs out of the bed sheets and stretched. Once upon a time, Oswald would’ve been knocking on her front door by now to get her to come into the park. Thankfully, he’d given up forcing Minnie into the park ten years ago. Minnie would only now go when she felt like it, and that wasn’t too often.

But, as soon as her feet touched the cold floor, there was a knocking at the front door. Grumbling to herself, Minnie grabbed her dressing gown and began to storm down the stairs. Whoever it was started ringing the doorbell much to her frustration. Preparing to yell back into the kitchen to tell Pluto to stop barking, Minnie was confronted by the fact he wasn’t there. In fact, she didn’t remember him coming back at all last night.

Puzzled, Minnie turned back to the front door to address the person still furiously knocking outside. “What?” she snapped as she swung the door open.

Daisy Duck stood the other side, Donald lingering at the end of the path on the sidewalk. Daisy barely flinched when Minnie opened the door, used to Minnie’s shorter temper over the last twenty years. Daisy and Donald were both dressed in clothes Minnie had rarely seen them in recently – Donald in his old blue uniform and cap, and Daisy in her pink frilly frock. Normally the ducks were so busy helping Oswald run the park and in charge of their parts of the company that neither of them was out in public much anymore. And even that was for very special occasions, rarely together, and rarely long enough to even justify their park costumes.

“Morning”, Daisy smiled, “I assume I’m the first to tell you then?” She gestured to Minnie’s attire to which Minnie responded with what can only be called ‘a resting bitch face’. Minnie’s silence and lack of verbal response allowed Daisy another moment to think and add a following question: “It wasn’t you, was it?”

“Daisy, one question at a time please”, Minnie sighed in exasperation.

“The park”, Daisy said like Minnie should know, “Was it you?”

“What do you mean the park?”

“Someone fixed it!” Donald called, making his way up the path now that Daisy had taken the brunt of Minnie’s mood.

“Fixed it?” Minnie puzzled, gesturing for the ducks to come in for a moment.

Daisy headed straight for the kitchen. She knew exactly what her best friend needed right now, and that was a large cup of coffee. Donald kissed Minnie on the cheek in greeting and closed the door behind himself as he nudged Minnie in the direction of the kitchen.

“Yes”, Daisy replied, “Everything is working again. Plus, the fireworks last night”.

“Fireworks?”

“Scrooge is on the war path”, Donald commented as he looked for Minnie’s kitchen TV remote, “Nobody’s seen Oswald, and Ortensia said he left first thing this morning. He’s been calling in extra staff all morning”.

Minnie blinked several times, not believing what she was hearing. Daisy came behind her and sat Minnie down at the kitchen table, just as Donald turned on the TV. It clicked straight to Network News.

“…our breaking news story of the morning, Disneyland”, Mia Loud read on the TV, “Scrooge McDuck has released a statement further to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’s half an hour ago, citing that he ‘no way in God’s heaven or earth released funds for the fireworks display’, and added…”

The screen cut to a very angry Scrooge McDuck. “That bloomin’ hare has lost all ‘is marbles. Whatever magic ‘e cooked up last night better last, otherwise he will nae last the course!”

Minnie watched as shaky footage of inside the park from this morning, clearly from a cast member arriving at work, showed that everything was in fact fixed. The shop fronts were glistening in the morning sun, there were some bunnies on the rides, Pete and Horace were driving the Main Street Vehicles to their old stops, and the flowers were blooming. She couldn’t quite believe her eyes as it then cut to long queues of traffic and people outside of the park, already waiting to come in. Suddenly she was back in 1955, watching the crowds form for Opening Day. _“Don’ worry Min”_ , Mickey had said to her that morning, _“It’ll all be okay. Y’all see!”_

A tear formed in the corner of Minnie’s eye as she was transported back. This didn’t go unnoticed by the ducks, who shared a look between them. “That magic wasn’t you, was it Minnie?” Daisy asked cautiously, “Only one of us could cook something like that up. It would take Don, Goof and me to manage that, but you could do it on your own…?”

Daisy was unsure about the last part. They were all able to do some magic. Mickey had always been the magician out of the five of them, so the rest of them never really bothered. Minnie was always helping Mickey if what he had been doing was complicated, but he was constantly reassuring them that Minnie had the potential to achieve as much as him if she ever put her mind to it. Daisy had always believed him, but then he vanished, and the life went of Minnie and Daisy feared the magic too.

Minnie sniffed herself out of her memories. “Hmm, no”, her shoulders sagged and Minnie hugged herself tight, “You know I don’t… Not anymore”.

Donald reached across the table and gave Minnie’s hand a squeeze. Once upon a time, it had just been him, Goofy, Minnie and Mickey against the world (and Pete). Minnie responded with a small smile, which Donald was satisfied with.

“Well, back to my first question at the door”, Daisy straightened herself and drew Minnie’s attention back to her, “I know for full well now you didn’t get the message, but Oswald wants us all at the front of the park for opening. Like the old days”.

“Ugh!” Minnie flopped back in her chair. She hated when Oswald did things like this.

Once in a blue moon he’d call her out to the park for an event or something. Normally she didn’t go, as even being in the park made her depressed. But this morning, with everything that was happening? And Daisy and Donald? “Goofy as well?” she asked the ducks.

“All of us. Oswald, Ortensia, me, Daisy, Goofy, Horace, Clarabelle, the Princesses, Pluto…” Donald started to list off.

“Where is Pluto?” Minnie asked, “I don’t think he came back last night”.

“Horace said he came back through with Oswald last night”, Daisy explained, “Must still be with him”.

“S’not like Pluto though”, Minnie muttered, letting the thought trail off. She sniffed again to bring herself back. “So, Polka Dots and Bow?”

“Yeah”, Donald replied, pushing the feathers up on his wrist to reveal a watch hidden under his white down, “At the fire station in ten minutes”.

Daisy’s eyes went wide as she stood up quickly. “We’re late”, she gestured to Donald to stand, “Minnie, do you want us to wait, or will you meet us there?”

Minnie looked to the clock on the wall. “There”, she shrugged, “If I miss anything, I’m sure I’ll find out when I get there”.

“Awesome!” Daisy grinned, grabbing Donald by the sleeve, “See ya there. Love you Minnie!”

Minnie waved and smiled as she watched her best friend pull Donald out of her kitchen. Minnie waved a quick goodbye to her old friend and made to stand to get ready. She’d always known that it would take something big to get over Mickey… Maybe this was it?


End file.
